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The article introduces the cap and letter dated the 30 April 1536 sent to the mayor and inhabitants of the City of Waterford by King Henry VIII, traces the history of caps of maintenance in England prior to that and points to its apparent uniqueness being officially styled as a cap of maintenance in a royal letter for use in mayoral ceremonial. It also introduces William Wyse the bearer of the cap; educated at court and later Mayor of Waterford. It discusses Wyse and Waterford's loyalty during the Geraldine rebellion, how the cap was a token of the king's recognition of Waterford, and grants of land and a knighthood to Wyse. A record of the history and use of the cap is made, comparing it with contemporary royal caps of maintenance and caps/hats of fashion. Its assembly, materials and decoration are recorded and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probably the most neglected aspect of the history of the guilds and livery companies of early modern London is the ubiquitous subordinate organisation known as the 'yeomanry' or 'bachelors' company'. Many narrative histories of individual companies make only passing reference to the existence of a yeomanry, and dismiss the organisations as generally transient and insignificant. Per contra, the yeomanry of at least one of the major City livery companies represented to an extraordinary degree a company within a company in the later sixteenth century. By the time Elizabeth ascended the throne, the yeomanry body of the Merchant Taylors' Company had acquired effective responsibility for the vast majority of the Company's membership. To most contemporary and modern observers, the dazzling wealth, magnificent ceremonies and eminent members — entitled to wear the prestigious livery gown of the Company, and generally drawn from the mercantile and civic élite — were the most intriguing aspects of the history of the Merchant Taylors' Company. To the poor freemen below the livery these matters were of less significance. Part I of this article examines briefly the origins, nature and functions of the sub-company. Part II explores the degree to which this body represented the continuation of the traditions of the medieval guild of London tailors and continued to embody the aspirations and interests of its artisan members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on urban stability and crime control in cities with large immigrant communities in 16th-century England. The strategies of shared authority between urban magistrates and leaders of refugee communities to address conflict and crime are outlined. The immigrants' success in presenting themselves as useful and welcome members of their host community while keeping intact their specific alien networks within their new places of residence is also discussed.

This article examines the theme of service in the works of William Shakespeare. The author recounts the history of the scholarship on this theme, which has been increasing. He mentions Frances E. Dolan and Michael Neill as two of the scholars working in this area. The concept of service can be expanded to encompass almost every relationship within his plays, and by extension, Elizabethan society.

B Tommi Alho b is a researcher at the Åbo Akademi University. He publishes on neo-Latin, history of Classical education and Latin linguistics, and has recently edited (with Jason Finch and Roger D. Sell) the volume I Renaissance Man: Essays on Literature and Culture for Anthony W. Johnson i (John Benjamins, 2019). His I Theatre Journal i essay "How to Do Things with Demons: Conjuring Performatives in I Doctor Faustus i " received ASTR's inaugural Oscar G. Brockett Prize for the best essay in theater research. [Extracted from the article]

The author discusses William Shakespeare's use of Dante Alighieri's "La Divina Commedia" in his play "Macbeth." The author explores that availability of textual sources and evidence of general knowledge of "Commedia" during Shakespeare's lifetime. The author also explores the likelihood that Shakespeare was literate in Italian.

This article presents the history of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, Secretary of State for Ireland from 1580-1608. The office had recently been created in 1560 at the behest of Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex, who believed the position was important to the success of English rule in Ireland. But Fenton's predecessors had not wielded much power or influence.

The article examines the sumptuary law during the sixteenth-century Elizabethan period in England as depicted in Robert Green's drama "Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay." An assessment of play's criticism of the sumptuary law is provided. The legislative concern with sumptuary excess in England is chronicled.

The article presents a perspective on the counter-revolutionary program undertaken by John Bell as Bishop of Worcester in Tudor England. It examines details revealed in a unique visitation book, now in the Worcestershire County Record Office, and places them in the context of the national religious politics of the time, and in the longer context of religious dissidence during the late medieval period and the methods which the Church had developed for dealing with it.

Shakespeare and Fletcher's "Henry VIII" follows the trend established by Shakespeare's history plays beginning with "King John": of privileging forgetting as at least equal to remembering as a constitutive principle of dramatic design, historical representation, monarchal power, and national identity. "History" in "Henry VIII" becomes largely a procession not of those destined to be remembered but of those consigned to oblivion by royal authority. Taking up the rear of this procession, Henry VIII seems firmly in charge of the realm's collective memory through his possession of written documents, which appear to trump Wolsey's unequalled command of the spoken word. Elizabeth, represented as an enduring pattern of English monarchy, appears to embody her father's superior command of memory. The irony of Shakespeare and Fletcher's representation of Elizabeth is that Shakespeare's patron would have liked nothing more than for his predecessor to join the march to oblivion of Buckingham, Katherine, and Wolsey. In representing history as a process of obliteration, "Henry VIII" reflects both the character of the English Reformation and the private and public struggles of King James with memory. Like English unity before it, British unity, according to James, would have to be built not on the rock of remembrance but on the quicksand of oblivion. The play also recalls the Balmerino affair, which James described as the greatest ordeal of his dual reigns, exceeding even the travails of the Gowrie and Gunpowder Plots. Providing a mirror image of the Balmerino affair in its representation of Wolsey's downfall, the play illustrates the manifold dangers and ruses of public memory in the Jacobean era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay considers biographies of Catholic women written after their deaths, largely by priests who served as their confessors, and the saints' lives which these biographies took as their models. The essay draws attention to a significant body of Catholic writing, and sheds new light on the one text of this group that has gained considerable critical attention, "The Lady Falkland, Her Life," a biography of Elizabeth Cary by one of her daughters, a Benedictine nun. Considering the "Life" as a participant in a subgenre of Catholic biography reveals the tension between the conventions and precedents available to Cary's biographer, on the one hand, and her intractable subject, on the other. The "Life", like other similar biographies, borrows from and verges on hagiography, but is particularly unsuccessful at transforming its subject into a saint. While criticism of Cary and her works continues to dwell on her as eccentric and exceptional, determined by the particularities of her own character and experience, she is much like other female subjects of Catholic biography and hagiography. This can only be seen by attending to the kinds of texts that Cary and her daughter might well have read, and the parameters they set for writing an eminent Catholic woman's life. These texts figure reading and housework as the chief means by which Catholic women define and sustain their confessional identities in the hostile environment of post-reformation England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the peculiar backwardness to Raphael Hythloday's reforms, particularly in regards to enclosure. Chronological arranging of enclosure statutes and proclamations leading up to the publication of 'Utopia'; Portrayal of Hythloday as an agent provocateur; Offer of a radical social blueprint for improving and rebuilding England; Contradiction of Hythloday's status as a court outsider by his encoding of Tudor economic and legislative policy into the text of his reforms.

Focuses on several books and articles, which addressed issues concerning Great Britain during the 16th century. "The Boy King: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation," by Diarmaid MacCulloch; "The Politics of the Excluded, c. 1500-1850," edited by Tim Harris; "The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village," by Eamon Duffy; "The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Politics of the 1530s," by R. W. Hoyle; "Townspeople and Nation: English Urban Experiences, 1540-1460," by Robert Tittler.

What views were held about the historical Julius Caesar in Jacobean England and how did they shape reactions to Shakespeare's, a play which remained in the repertory throughout the period? I explore the representations of Caesar in early seventeenth-century drama and historiography in the context of Jacobean politics and political thought, especially of James I's readiness to present himself as a latter-day Julius Caesar. My focus is on two critical moments in James's reign: the Gunpowder Plot and the Palatinate débâcle. The former conferred renewed urgency on the assassination of Julius Caesar; the latter provoked interest in Caesar's rise to power and his autocratic government typified by his management of the senate. How those two crises resonated with the king's persistent self-fashioning as Caesar, and how they may have influenced the topical appeal of Shakespeare's tragedy, are the twin themes of this essay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines three early modern representations of the Maundy Thursday performance of footwashing in Great Britain. Medieval ceremonies revived by Henry VII to establish the Tudor dynasty's claim to the throne; Consideration of the miniature 'An Elizabethan Maundy,' attributed to Levina Teerline; Printed account of the ritual by William Lambarde from 1572 to 1573; Ritual elements in Ben Jonson's 'The Alchemist.'

Focuses on literacy in England during the 16th century. Role of the Bible in the encouragement of literacy in England; Factors that have contributed to the emergence of multiple literacies during the period; Discussion on the distabilization of existing social and cultural categories by writers and readers.

The article focuses on the life of prostitute Mary Newborough and prostitution in London, England during Elizabethan times. The career of Newborough is examined based on the available records found concerning this period. Newborough's marriage to a gentleman turned criminal, George Newborough, of Berkley in Somerset, England, marked the beginning of her career. Details are given for her associations with Eleanor Dethick, or Mrs. Windsor, the Bridewell scandal of 1602 and her repentance.

The article focuses on the importance of printed plays in the Elizabethan era. Printing conventions helped to create the literary status of the play. Their importance as bibliographical resources based on the number of different plays produced in England is explored. The lack of prefatory material, including prefaces and dedications, indicates that the plays were not meant to be read but acted. Details are given for the 1616 publication of "Workes" by Ben Jonson.

Discusses the anti-Catholic direction of Edmund Spenser's allegory in 'The Faerie Queene' by reference to the Edwardian Injunctions issued in 1547. Reissuance of the injunctions, written by Thomas Cranmer, under Elizabeth I; Redefinition of the thefts of the character Kirkrapine; Investment of Kirkrapine's crimes with the aura of sacrilege or blasphemy.

Traces the events that led to the arrest of Spanish priests Juan Abbad and Pedro Ladron in Wiltshire, England on July 25, 1541. Characteristics of the encounters between the Spanish priests and the English bishops; Argument presented by Ladron to the Council in London; Overview of the treatment received by Spaniards from Englishmen; Assertion on English religious practices; Views espoused by Ladron before Bishop Salcott and Archbishop Cranmer.

This article presents discussion of the discipline and methodology of historical scholarship and research as of 2009 and reflects on possible changes which could occur within the field in the following 40 years. Particular attention is given to the trends of integrating gender analysis methodologies in Early Modern studies. An overview of published research on the gender dynamics of the role of Queenship during the English Tudor dynasty is given, citing ways in which the research is developing positively.

Offers information on literature about women writers of Tudor England, from 1485 to 1603. Inclusion of 'Renaissance Woman: A Sourcebook,' edited by Kate Aughterson; 'Women and Literature in Britain, 1500-1700,' edited by Helen Wilcox; 'The Examinations of Anne Askew,' edited by Elaine V. Beilin; 'Elizabeth I: Collected Works,' edited by Leah S. Marcus.

Looks at how the monks at Saint Albans abbey in England reacted to the reforms enunciated by the kings of England, Oliver Cromwell during the civil war and Protestants. Attempts of the monks at Saint Albans to restore their community; Execution of some of the monks for their resistance to reforms; Intellectual challenge presented by the monks at Saint Albans to the reforms.

Disputes on the claims of Ethan Shagan in his article `Protector Somerset and the 1549 Rebellions: New Sources and New Perspectives.' Argument that the nine letters in the British Library, Add. MS 48018, as the new sources, cannot conclusively resolve the question of the British government's attitude toward the rebels; Assessment of the supposed concession offered by the Somerset government.

Presents a response to scholars Michael Bush's and George Bernard's questions regarding the author's article `Protector Somerset and the 1549 Rebellions.' Assertion that Somerset's policies in mid-Tudor history attempted to create an alliance between the British government and commons but that he never crossed the line; Arguments on Somerset's policy of appeasement; Agreement with Bush that popular politics is connected with the government's attempts to promulgate its policies.

Presents a letter from Lady Jane Grey, Duchess of Northumberland to Lady Paget during the tumultuous period prior to the execution of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and husband of Jane, in August 1553. Implications of the letter.

Focuses on the long-term legacy of events that happened in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the manner in which the Reformation past was harnessed to mount a critique of ideological trends. Patterns of ecclesiastical patronage; Expression to apprehensions of crisis; Upheaval and conflict; Ramifications of the event.

Argues that historians have misread Sir Thomas Smith's `De republica anglorum' as a factual depiction of English society and institutions in the sixteenth century. Smith's attempt as a citizen of the elect nation to theorize the `mixed monarchy' inaugurated with Elizabeth's accession; Important contribution to English Protestant apologetic of the 1560s; Examination of three cultural contexts.

Examines the developments in the Tudor historiography. Acceptance of insights from other disciplines by Tudor historians; Receptiveness towards the integration of disciplines such as political language, ichnography and literature to historical research.

Discusses several books about the history of Europe and Great Britain during the 16th century. `The Tudor Monarchy,' by John Guy; `The Impact of the English Reformation, 1500-1640,' edited by Peter Marshall; `The English Renaissance,' by Alistair Fox.

Looks at the retention of the longbow by England's soldiers of the sixteenth century. Relationship between the longbow and gunpowder small arms; Performance of small arms; Why Henry VIII employed expensive foreign arquebusiers; Main purpose of the Henrican statutes restricting the use of handguns and crossbows; Decline in the number of archers.